Anthony J. Garcia says Su Teatro “is coming home.”
His theater company, the third-oldest Chicano troupe in the country, has signed a contract to build a 41,000- square-foot cultural performing-arts center at 215 S. Santa Fe Drive.
The move not only will expand and extend the thriving Santa Fe Drive Arts and Culture District several blocks to the south, it will return Su Teatro (“Your Theater”) to the west Denver neighborhood where it was born in 1971.
“I have an emotional connection to that neighborhood,” said Garcia, who grew up in the west-side barrio that was displaced to make room for the Auraria campus.
Su Teatro later grew out of a series of improvisational political commentary skits on the campus in 1971.
The new 250-seat theater will be built on the vacant salvage yard formerly known as Del Rio. For the past 17 years, Su Teatro has performed in a 107-seat theater at the 10,000-square-foot Elyria Elementary School, 4725 High St.
The new arts center will be four times larger.
Garcia, who will present renderings of the new Su Teatro at a news conference Thursday, said the new facility will accommodate theatrical presentations and community events as well as operate as a rental facility for the arts community at large.
The center will be located one block north of Alameda Avenue, creating a southern signature entryway to the Santa Fe arts district.
Garcia also said the redevelopment will create at least 25 new jobs.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
